NYC Premiere of SAINT JOAN OF THE STOCKYARDS and More Set for Irondale's 2015 Season

This Spring, Irondale Ensemble heats up Ft. Greene with its dynamic 33rd Season -- featuring the New York Premiere of Peter Kleinert's revival of Saint Joan of the Stockyards, May 22-June 13. An intimate conversation with Kleinert, gives audiences the opportunity to connect firsthand with the work and artists. Other season events include an edited collage of Saint Joan themed films and an evening of cabaret: Bertolt Brecht's Berlin, featuring the songs of Brecht and frequent collaborators Kurt Weill and Paul Dessau, both scheduled in April.

"This season quite fully reflects our mission to bring artists and audiences together in a personal way," says Terry Greiss, Executive Director of Irondale. Artistic Director Jim Niesen continues, "It is the stories that hold us together-- the actors, audience and artists, everybody in the room, we all create the work."

On February 10, Irondale presents Talking Theater: Peter Kleinert, in conversation with director Anne Cattaneo (Lincoln Center Theater, Julliard) and Irondale's Artistic Director Jim Niesen. Mr. Kleinert will reflect on a life spent in the Berlin theatre, before and after reunification, working with some of the most important figures of this astounding period in German theatre history.

Kleinert was heavily influenced by Bert Brecht's first conversion to Marxism in his revival of Saint Joan. Irondale presents this darkly comic tale of corporate greed, high-rolling millionaires, unemployed workers and a doomed romance between a meatpacking tycoon and a Salvation Army worker for four weeks, beginning on May 22.

Mr. Kleinert currently has two productions in the repertoire of Berlin's Schaubühne Theatre: Saint Joan of the Stockyards, which premiered in 2013, and his own adaptation of Erich Kastner's, Fabian-Going to the Dogs, which opened on January 24 of this year. The Schaubühne is considered one of the four leading Berlin theatre companies, along with the Berliner Ensemble, the Deutsches, and the Volksbühne, and has become a prominent and frequent guest company at Brooklyn's BAM.

Additionally, Irondale continues to develop the 1599 Project in 2015. In the year 1599, William Shakespeare completed the text of Henry V, wrote Julius Caesar and As you Like It and finished the first draft of Hamlet. These four plays grew out of and relate to each other, and combine to form one singular epic story. Underway since 2010, Irondale's 1599 Project brings audiences up close to these works in a streamlined production of these four plays, all performed in one evening in one significant piece of theater in 2016, after a 4-year intense investigation and collaboration. To complement this initiative and to expand the reach of these masterpieces to all ages, Irondale presents Shakespeare Unwrapped, performances of the 1599 plays suitable for all ages. (February 21, As You Like It and March 7, Hamlet), In-progress showings of 1599 will play throughout 2015.

The Irondale Ensemble unpacks and performs four of Shakespeare's classic plays as if they were brand new surprises opened for the first time. Whether audiences are aficionados of the Bard or entering the world of Shakespeare for the first time, the Irondale Ensemble will provide an engaging and scintillating experience for all.

Internationally acclaimed director, Peter Kleinert of Berlin, engages in a conversation with Lincoln Center's, Anne Cattaneo, on Brecht and the exciting theatrical landscape of contemporary German Theatre. He will discuss his critically acclaimed production of Saint Joan of the Stockyards, and his plans to give Brooklyn a fresh revival of the work.

The Four Faces of Joan (Saint Joan Film Collage)

April 16

This event is FREE to the public

A mash-up of 4 Saint Joan inspired films edited and curated by filmmakers Libby Handros and John Kirby director and producer of the award-winning documentary Cape Wind.

Originally set in 1920's Chicago, Brecht's drama is about the pursuit of justice set against the milieu of corporate greed, high-rolling millionaires and unemployed workers-and a doomed romance between a meatpacking tycoon and a Salvation Army worker. Performed at Irondale for the first time since 1993, an ensemble of actors present this non-Aristotelian drama laced with humor and songs as part of its epicdramaturgical structure.

DIRECTIONS - Irondale is located at 85 South Oxford Street in Brooklyn, New York. The theater is accessible by Subway: C to Lafayette; B, D, M, N, Q, R, 2, 3, 4, or 5 to Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street; and G to Fulton Street.

ABOUT IRONDALE - Located in the heart of the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District, Irondale is the home of the Irondale Ensemble Project. It is a theatre ensemble, a performance think-tank and a collaborative laboratory for non-traditional artists. Irondale's unique and transformational space has gained much attention as a place for both established and emerging artists to premiere major projects and showcase developing work. The Irondale Ensemble Project was founded in 1983 by Jim Niesen, Terry Greiss and Barbara Mackenzie-Wood and is one of the longest established permanent ensemble theaters in the country. The ensemble has created over 60 Off-Broadway productions from intimate chamber productions of Shakespeare to company devised epic work. Irondale's learning programs provide high quality, cutting edge workshops and school residencies designed to develop the artist in every human being.